Bezoektijd: 10 - 20 minuten
The American Dream is one of the most powerful myths in modern history. Since the seventeenth century, people have been flocking to America in the belief that they can build a new life there, free from the constraints of background, class or religion. Hard work, talent and perseverance were said to be enough to achieve success. That dream became not only a national ideal, but also an export. Through popular culture, the image of America as the land where anything is possible was spread. Anyone can become rich. Anyone can become famous. Anyone can reinvent themselves.
But behind that promise lie other stories too. Who benefits from these opportunities, and who is left behind? What price is paid for economic growth, political power and personal success? And what happens when the dream proves out of reach for many?
More than 35 years after the exhibition American Dreams, American Extremes: Jewellery from the United States at Museum Het Kruithuis, Design Museum Den Bosch presents jewellery and objects from its own collection in The American Dream. In doing so, the museum questions the concept itself. For what does The American Dream still mean today, now that faith in progress and democracy is under pressure?
The works of a diverse range of designers, including Rhonda Zwillinger, Keith Haring, Göran Kling and Carolyn Kriegman, explore this tension. Their jewellery and objects deal with gold and wealth, desire and consumption, but also with war, exclusion and dashed expectations: the American Dream turns out to be an ideal that inspires as much as it legitimises inequality.